Abstract: Green incentives are included in the “American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009" (ARRA). It is, however,
unclear how these government incentives can be carried out most
effectively according to market-based principles and if they can serve
as a catalyst for an accelerated green transformation and an ultimate
solution to the current U.S. and global economic and financial crisis.
The article will compare the existing U.S. green economic policies
with those in Germany, identify problems, and suggest improvements
to allow the green stimulus incentives to achieve the best results in
the process of an accelerated green transformation. The author argues
that the current U.S. green stimulus incentives can only be most
successful if they are carried out as part of a visionary,
comprehensive, long-term, and consistent strategy of the green
economic transformation.
Abstract: A new class of percolation model in complex networks,
in which nodes are characterized by hidden variables reflecting the
properties of nodes and the occupied probability of each link is
determined by the hidden variables of the end nodes, is studied
in this paper. By the mean field theory, the analytical expressions
for the phase of percolation transition is deduced. It is determined
by the distribution of the hidden variables for the nodes and the
occupied probability between pairs of them. Moreover, the analytical
expressions obtained are checked by means of numerical simulations
on a particular model. Besides, the general model can be applied
to describe and control practical diffusion models, such as disease
diffusion model, scientists cooperation networks, and so on.
Abstract: This paper presents a simple and original method for
the generation of short monocycle pulses based on the transient
response of a passive band-pass filter. The recorded sub-nanosecond
pulses show a good symmetry and a small ringing (13 % of the peak
amplitude). Their spectral density covers the range 3.1 GHz to
10.6 GHz. The possibility to adapt the pulse spectral density to the
indoor FCC frequency mask is demonstrated with a prototype
working at a reduced frequency (FCC/1000). A detection technique is
proposed.
Abstract: This interdisciplinary study is an investigation to evaluate user-interfaces in business administration. The study is going to be implemented on two computerized business administration systems with two distinctive user-interfaces, so that differences between the two systems can be determined. Both systems, a commercial and a prototype developed for the purpose of this study, deal with ordering of supplies, tendering procedures, issuing purchase orders, controlling the movement of the stocks against their actual balances on the shelves and editing them on their tabulations. In the second suggested system, modern computer graphics and multimedia issues were taken into consideration to cover the drawbacks of the first system. To highlight differences between the two investigated systems regarding some chosen standard quality criteria, the study employs various statistical techniques and methods to evaluate the users- interaction with both systems. The study variables are divided into two divisions: independent representing the interfaces of the two systems, and dependent embracing efficiency, effectiveness, satisfaction, error rate etc.
Abstract: The dilute acid pretreatment and enzymatic
saccharification of lignocellulosic substrate, cogon grass (Imperata
cylindrical, L.) was optimized prior ethanol fermentation using
simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) method. The
optimum pretreatment conditions, temperature, sulfuric acid
concentration, and reaction time were evaluated by determining the
maximum sugar yield at constant enzyme loading. Cogon grass, at
10% w/v substrate loading, has optimum pretreatment conditions of
126°C, 0.6% v/v H2SO4, and 20min reaction time. These
pretreatment conditions were used to optimize enzymatic
saccharification using different enzyme combinations. The maximum
saccharification yield of 36.68mg/mL (71.29% reducing sugar) was
obtained using 25FPU/g-cellulose cellulase complex combined with
1.1% w/w of cellobiase, ß-glucosidase, and 0.225% w/w of
hemicellulase complex, after 96 hours of saccharification. Using the
optimum pretreatment and saccharification conditions, SSF of treated
substrates was done at 37°C for 120 hours using industrial yeast
strain HBY3, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The ethanol yield for cogon
grass at 4% w/w loading was 9.11g/L with 5.74mg/mL total residual
sugar.
Abstract: Modernizing legacy applications is the key issue facing IT managers today because there's enormous pressure on organizations to change the way they run their business to meet the new requirements. The importance of software maintenance and reengineering is forever increasing. Understanding the architecture of existing legacy applications is the most critical issue for maintenance and reengineering. The artifacts recovery can be facilitated with different recovery approaches, methods and tools. The existing methods provide static and dynamic set of techniques for extracting architectural information, but are not suitable for all users in different domains. This paper presents a simple and lightweight pattern extraction technique to extract different artifacts from legacy systems using regular expression pattern specifications with multiple language support. We used our custom-built tool DRT to recover artifacts from existing system at different levels of abstractions. In order to evaluate our approach a case study is conducted.
Abstract: The heterotrophic seedling growth can be defined as a
product of two components: (1) the weight of mobilized seed reserve,
and (2) conversion efficiency of utilized seed reserve to seedling
tissue. The first component can be further divided into (1) initial seed
weight, and (2) the fraction of seed reserve, which is mobilized. The
objective of this study was the identification of the sensitive seedling
growth component(s) in response to drought and salinity stresses.
Two experiments were separately conducted using various salinity
levels (osmotic pressure) of 0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1, 1.25 and 1.5 MPa
created using NaCl as first experiment and by polyethylene glycol
(drought stress) of 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1, 1.2 and 1.4 MPa in second
experiment. Seeds of five crops species (Hordeum vulgare, Brassica
napus, Zea mays, Medicago sativa and Medicago scutellata) were
used in each experiment. In both experiments, seedling growth,
fraction of seed reserve utilization and weight of mobilized seed
reserve decreased with increasing drought and salt intensity.
However, drought and salinity stresses had no effect on the
conversion efficiency. It was concluded that the sensitive component
of seedling growth is the weight of mobilized seed reserve.
Abstract: Hierarchical Mobile IPv6 (HMIPv6) was designed to
support IP micro-mobility management in the Next Generation
Networks (NGN) framework. The main design behind this protocol is
the usage of Mobility Anchor Point (MAP) located at any level router
of network to support hierarchical mobility management. However,
the distance MAP selection in HMIPv6 causes MAP overloaded and
increase frequent binding update as the network grows. Therefore, to
address the issue in designing MAP selection scheme, we propose a
dynamic load control mechanism integrates with a speed detection
mechanism (DMS-DLC). From the experimental results we obtain
that the proposed scheme gives better distribution in MAP load and
increase handover speed.
Abstract: A nonlinear optimal controller with a fuzzy gain
scheduler has been designed and applied to a Line-Of-Sight (LOS)
stabilization system. Use of Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR)
theory is an optimal and simple manner of solving many control
engineering problems. However, this method cannot be utilized
directly for multigimbal LOS systems since they are nonlinear in
nature. To adapt LQ controllers to nonlinear systems at least a
linearization of the model plant is required. When the linearized
model is only valid within the vicinity of an operating point a gain
scheduler is required. Therefore, a Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Inference
System gain scheduler has been implemented, which keeps the
asymptotic stability performance provided by the optimal feedback
gain approach. The simulation results illustrate that the proposed
controller is capable of overcoming disturbances and maintaining a
satisfactory tracking performance.
Abstract: In this paper we report the technique of optical
induction of 2 and 3-dimensional (2D and 3D) photonic lattices in
photorefractive materials based on diffraction grating self replication
-Talbot effect. 1D and 2D different rotational symmery diffraction
masks with the periods of few tens micrometers and 532 nm cw laser
beam were used in the experiments to form an intensity modulated
light beam profile. A few hundred micrometric scale replications of
mask generated intensity structures along the beam propagation axis
were observed. Up to 20 high contrast replications were detected for
1D annular mask with 30
Abstract: This paper presents the influence of preloading on a)
the contact tractions, b) slip levels and c) stresses at the dovetail
blade-disc interface of an aero-engine through a three-dimensional
(3D) finite element (FE) modeling and analysis. The preloading is
applied by an interference fit at the dovetail interface and the bulk
loading is applied through the rotational speed of rotor. Preloading at
the dovetail interface reduces the peak contact pressure developed
due to bulk loading up to 35%, and reduces the peak contact pressure
and stress difference between top and bottom contact edges.
Increasing the level of preloading reduces the cyclic stress amplitude
at the interface up to certain values of preload and as a consequence,
an improvement in fatigue life could be expected. Fretting damage,
due to vibration and wind milling effect during engine ground
condition, can be minimized by preloading the dovetail interface.
Abstract: MOC (method of cell) is a new method of investigating
wave propagating in material with periodic microstructure, and can
reflect the effect of microstructure. Wave propagation in periodically
laminated medium consisting of linearly elastic layers can be treated
as a special application of this method. In this paper, it was used to
simulate the dynamic response of carbon-phenolic to impulsive
loading under certain boundary conditions. From the comparison
between the results obtained from this method and the exact results
based on propagator matrix theory, excellent agreement is achieved.
Conclusion can be made that the oscillation periodicity is decided by
the thickness of sub-cells. In the end, the NHDMOC method, which
permits studying stress wave propagation with one dimensional strain,
was applied to study the one-dimensional stress wave propagation. In
this paper, the ZWT nonlinear visco-elastic constitutive relationship
with 7 parameters, NHDMOC, and corresponding equations were
deduced. The equations were verified, comparing the elastic stress
wave propagation in SHPB with, respectively, the elastic and the
visco-elastic bar. Finally the dispersion and attenuation of stress wave
in SHPB with visco-elastic bar was studied.
Abstract: Snow cover is an important phenomenon in
hydrology, hence modeling the snow accumulation and melting is an
important issue in places where snowmelt significantly contributes to
runoff and has significant effect on water balance. The physics-based
models are invariably distributed, with the basin disaggregated into
zones or grid cells. Satellites images provide valuable data to verify
the accuracy of spatially distributed model outputs. In this study a
spatially distributed physically based model (WetSpa) was applied to
predict snow cover and melting in the Latyan dam watershed in Iran.
Snowmelt is simulated based on an energy balance approach. The
model is applied and calibrated with one year of observed daily
precipitation, air temperature, windspeed, and daily potential
evaporation. The predicted snow-covered area is compared with
remotely sensed images (MODIS). The results show that simulated
snow cover area SCA has a good agreement with satellite image
snow cover area SCA from MODIS images. The model performance
is also tested by statistical and graphical comparison of simulated and
measured discharges entering the Latyan dam reservoir.
Abstract: This paper describes an experimental, theoretical
model and numerical study of concentrated vortex flow past a sphere
in a hydraulic check valve. The phenomenon of the rotation of the
ball around the axis of the device through which liquid flows has
been found. That is, due to the rotation of the sphere in the check
valve vibration is caused. We observe the rotation of the sphere
around the longitudinal axis of the check valve. This rotation is
induced by a vortex shedding from the sphere. We will discuss
computational simulation and experimental investigations of this
strong sphere rotation. The frequency of the sphere vibration and
interaction with the check valve wall has been measured as a function
of the wide range Reynolds Number. The validity of the
computational simulation and of the assumptions on which it is based
has been proved experimentally. This study demonstrates the
possibility to control the vibrations in a hydraulic system and proves
to be very effective suppression of the self-excited vibration.
Abstract: Based on a long-term vegetation index dataset of NDVI and meteorological data from 68 meteorological stations in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau and their relations with major climate factors were analyzed. The results show the following: 1) The linear trends of temperature in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau indicate that the temperature in the plateau generally increased, but it rose faster in the last 20 years. 2) The most significant NDVI increase occurred in the eastern and southern plateau. However, the western and northern plateau demonstrate a decreasing trend. 3) There is a significant positive linear correlation between NDVI and temperature and a negative correlation between NDVI and mean wind speed. However, no significant statistical relationship was found between NDVI and relative humidity, precipitation or sunshine duration.4) The changes in NDVI for the plateau are driven by temperature-precipitation, but for the desert and forest areas, the relation changes to precipitation-temperature-wind velocity and wind velocity-temperature-precipitation.
Abstract: A self-association model has been used to understand
the concentration dependence of free energy of mixing (GM), heat of
mixing (HM), entropy of mixing (SM), activity (a) and microscopic
structures, such as concentration fluctuation in long wavelength limit
(Scc(0)) and Warren-Cowley short range order parameter ( 1
α )for Cu-
Tl molten alloys at 1573K. A comparative study of surface tension of
the alloys in the liquid state at that temperature has also been carried
out theoretically as function of composition in the light of Butler-s
model, Prasad-s model and quasi-chemical approach. Most of the
computed thermodynamic properties have been found in agreement
with the experimental values. The analysis reveals that the Cu-Tl
molten alloys at 1573K represent a segregating system at all
concentrations with moderate interaction. Surface tensions computed
from different approaches have been found to be comparable to each
other showing increment with the composition of copper.
Abstract: In recent years, the number of natural disasters in the world has occurred frequently. After a strong earthquake occurs, multiple disasters due to tsunami, strong aftershocks or heavy snow can possible to occur. To prevent a secondary disaster and to save a life, the quick inspection of the damaged building is necessary. This paper investigated on a possibility of post earthquake quick inspection of damaged building by ordinary people which used the European Macro- Seismic Scale 1998 (EMS-98).
Abstract: This paper is concerned with an improved algorithm
based on the piecewise-smooth Mumford and Shah (MS) functional
for an efficient and reliable segmentation. In order to speed up
convergence, an additional force, at each time step, is introduced
further to drive the evolution of the curves instead of only driven by
the extensions of the complementary functions u + and u - . In our
scheme, furthermore, the piecewise-constant MS functional is
integrated to generate the extra force based on a temporary image that
is dynamically created by computing the union of u + and u - during
segmenting. Therefore, some drawbacks of the original algorithm,
such as smaller objects generated by noise and local minimal problem
also are eliminated or improved. The resulting algorithm has been
implemented in Matlab and Visual Cµ, and demonstrated efficiently
by several cases.
Abstract: In the crack growth analysis, the Stress Intensity
Factor (SIF) is a fundamental prerequisite. In the present study, the
mode I stress intensity factor (SIF) of three-dimensional penny-
Shaped crack is obtained in an isotropic elastic cylindrical medium
with arbitrary dimensions under arbitrary loading at the top of the
cylinder, by the semi-analytical method based on the Rayleigh-Ritz
method. This method that is based on minimizing the potential
energy amount of the whole of the system, gives a very close results
to the previous studies. Defining the displacements (elastic fields) by
hypothetical functions in a defined coordinate system is the base of
this research. So for creating the singularity conditions at the tip of
the crack the appropriate terms should be found.
Abstract: A seismic isolation pad produced by utilizing the scrap
tire rubber which contains interleaved steel reinforcing cords has been
proposed. The steel cords are expected to function similar to the steel
plates used in conventional laminated rubber bearings. The scrap tire
rubber pad (STRP) isolator is intended to be used in low rise
residential buildings of highly seismic areas of the developing
countries. Experimental investigation was conducted on unbonded
STRP isolators, and test results provided useful information including
stiffness, damping values and an eventual instability of the isolation
unit. Finite element analysis (FE analysis) of STRP isolator was
carried out on properly bonded samples. These types of isolators
provide positive incremental force resisting capacity up to shear strain
level of 155%. This paper briefly discusses the force deformation
behavior of bonded STRP isolators including stability of the isolation
unit.